U.S.S. Kongo, Constitution class
For other ships of the same name, see U.S.S. Kongo.'' The '''U.S.S. ''Kongo NCC-1710''' was a Starfleet Class One starship of the original batch of the Constitution class of heavy cruiser. She was uprated to Bonhomme Richard sub-class specifications in 2252, then to Achernar sub-class specifications in 2262, then to Indefatigable sub-class specifications in 2268, then to Constitution-II sub-class specifications in 2274, and finally uprated to Levant sub-class specifications in 2286. After a long and illustrious career, the Kongo was decommissioned in 2310, passing her name and history into the care of a brand new Excelsior-class starship which was commissioned in 2312 as NCC-18710. History Construction began on the Kongo in 2242 and she was was completed and commissioned in 2246. As one of the next generation of Starfleet vessels designed to hold the line against the Klingons and other belligerent adversaries in the aftermath of the Four Years War, she was to be given a strong name replete with naval tradition and service from the history of one of the Federation's core member worlds. She was named in honour of the Japanese battlecruiser/fast battleship Kongo, which served the Empire of Japan during Earth's World War II. On stardate 2947.3 (31st August 2267) the Kongo was docked at Starbase 11 in the Vega Sector. (TOS episode: 'Court Martial') On stardate 3141.7 (9th October 2267) the Kongo under the command of Captain Toroyan'' returned to Earth Spacedock for repairs to her warp drive after encountering some space cataclysm, and began her short refit to Indefatigable sub-class specifications. ''(TOS novel: 'Final Frontier') In 2271, the Kongo was en route to Centaurus when Admiral Lori Ciana decided to come aboard and tour the human colonies there. (TOS novel: 'A Flag Full of Stars') Also in 2271, Phillip Kosnett became captain of the Kongo. In one of his first missions, he protected the planet Pollux IX from a meteor set on course by the Klingons. (SB23-modified Star Fleet Universe timeline) In 2272 the Kongo under Captain Kosnett was sabotaged while on a special mission and attacked by a Klingon battlecruiser. Also in 2272, Kosnett rescued Federation hostages held by the Klingons. (SB23-modified Star Fleet Universe timeline) In early 2273 Kongo returned from her latest five-year mission and was dry-docked to begin her uprating to Second Rate Constitution-II sub-class specifications. In a separate addition to this uprating not done to all ships, the Kongo was also fitted with expanded C4ISTAR facilities to enable her to operate as a Command Cruiser. This uprating was completed in late 2274 and she was assigned to the Federation-Klingon-Romulan border region known as "The Triangle". (SB23-modified Star Fleet Universe timeline) In early 2275 the Klingon D6 Raxor-class battlecruiser Gnasher raided Rita’s Planet in the Neutral Zone and massacred the Federation colonists there. The Kongo under Captain Kosnett arrived and rescued the survivors. The Gnasher tried but failed to stop the Kongo, which successfully disabled him. Choosing death before dishonour, the Gnasher's C.O. self-destructed his vessel to prevent him being captured. (SB23-modified Star Fleet Universe timeline) Also in early 2275, the Kongo under the command of Captain Kosnett was 36 hours away from the [[U.S.S. Enterprise, Constitution class|U.S.S. Enterprise]]'s position on the Federation-Romulan border. The Kongo later met with the Enterprise at the Romulan Space Station Reltah, which had lost all power and drifted into Federation space. (TOS novel: 'Shell Game') The Kongo fought several battles in the Federation-Mirak War of 2275, acquitting herself well and apparently validating the worth of the Second Rate uprating program. (SB23: Federation-Mirak War story arc) She fought in several battles in the Taal Tan Offensive of 2283 and survived mostly unscathed. With the more badly damaged ships getting priority in the shipyards directly afterwards, it was only in late 2284 that she was dry-docked for what repairs she did need. In light of the losses sustained by Starfleet during the conflict and the upward spiral in Klingon belligerence the decision was made to proceed with a full uprating to First Rate specifications. (SB23: 'Taal Tan & the Turbulent '80s' story arc). In 2286 she re-entered service as a Levant sub-class Heavy Cruiser of the First Rate and was assigned to patrol duties on the restive Andorian-Orion "border" within Federation space. She was kept very busy dealing with repeated Andorian-Orion incidents, and repeated tests of Federation vigilance by Orion "pirates" and smugglers. On stardate 8747.6 (23rd September 2288), the Kongo clipped a cosmic string near Perseus, resulting in containment field breach in her engineering hull that killed 100 of her crew and irradiated many others. Medical assessment predicted that 50 more would die from this radiation poisoning. Science Officer Robert "Bob" Cecil sacrificed his life attempting to limit the spread of the radiation, and while he was unsuccessful, in doing so he saved the life of the Kongo's Chief Engineer, a mother of three. A brace of tugs were sent from Space Station Sigma One on the Andorian-Orion border to recover the Kongo. At that time, the original damage assessment was so severe that it wasn't known if she would ever be spaceworthy again. Five days later (28th September 2288), a memorial service for the Kongo crew lost to the tragedy was held at Space Station Sigma One; the final death count was established at 143. In attendance was Pavel Chekov, good friend of Science Officer Robert Cecil. (TOS novel: 'Death Count') Though the original damage assessment was borne out and she was deemed "uneconomical to repair", with the steadily increasing tempo of operations against the Federation by the Klingon Empire the decision was made to repair her anyway. Every ship was needed to hold the line against the Klingons in the dark days of the late 2280s and the Star Fleet could ill afford to scrap any front-line ship. The morale boost from restoring the famous Kongo to service was also a factor not to be ignored. (SB23: 'Taal Tan & the Turbulent '80s' story arc). The Kongo was repaired, re-crewed and returned to service in 2290 under Captain Nilo Rodis-Jamero. In 2292 former Kongo captain Phil Kosnett was promoted to Commodore on the Klingon frontier. (SB23-modified Star Fleet Universe timeline) The year 2293 saw the Kongo on patrol along the Klingon Neutral Zone in Sector 21803, under the command of Captain Nilo Rodis-Jamero. She was one of the vessels listed by Starfleet Command as close enough and able to provide support for the ships assigned to Operation Retrieve, but the rescue operation was never approved. (STVI: The Undiscovered Country) In 2295 freshly promoted Captain Yukana Nogami took command of the Kongo. She would remain in command for three five year missions and would be the Kongo's final commander until her decommissioning. She was Kongo's captain during the highly destructive I.S.C. War of Pacification (2295-2298) and the Romulan Resurgence (2308-2311). Commanding officers: * ? (2246-2266) * Captain Toroyan (2266-2271) * Captain Philip Kosnett (2271-2290) * Captain Nilo Rodis-Jamero (2290-2295) * Captain Yukana Nogami (2295-2310) Background Always an original member of the Constitution class, and hero ship of the Star Fleet Battles table-top starship combat game under Captain (later Commodore) Philip Kosnett, just as Enterprise ''under Kirk was hero ship of The Original Series, ''Kongo was kinda neglected by me as a background ship until now. The reason for this sudden surge in interest is down to one thing: Arpeggio of Blue Steel. Admittedly I had never heard of this anime until I played WarGaming's World Of Warships and these Arpeggio ships were offered up as playable ships for your fleet if you completed their specified missions. Even then I paid little heed, but then got interested enough to actually watch the anime just to see what the blazes all the hoopla was for. Well, blow me down if I didn't end up loving the flaming series. Despite an utterly bizarre premise and set up, at it's core is a pretty deep story about awakening emotions and personhood -- with many resonances for me to Spock and Data -- which only really starts to surface in the latter half of the series. So, now hooked on the fate of the chief antagonist, none other than the Pacific Patrol Fleet's Flagship, the Fast Battleship Kongo ''and its Mental Model, the seed of a new Star Trek story arc is germinated. Don't worry: this will not get all purple. Though I would not be Human myself if I didn't try to work in a few references... ''Additional Background ...one of which is now her captain. I realised that the draw for me to this series is the character ''of the chief antagonist, Mental Model Kongo, not merely/only the mecha warship. I realised that it was Kongo herself who had me hooked, and so I had to have her as the U.S.S. ''Kongo's Star Trek Captain as well. I wanted to tell her story in my universe. And it being my universe, I will. Category:Starships Category:Federation Vessels Category:Starfleet Vessels Category:Constitution Class Ships Category:Constitution-II Sub-class Ships Category:Levant Sub-class Ships